Continued expansion and promotion of the Dolly Parton Imagination Library (DPIL) program has caused the increase in the percent of children ages 0-4 in the GWCHF + DPIL service area participating in the program quarterly. 

Contributing Factors:

• Partnership with local libraries. 
• Promotion of the service through social media and other media channels (website, etc.)

Limiting Factors:

• Library’s inability to attract patrons (parents, grandparents and/or other caregivers).
• Families lack of follow through (for whatever reason) with provided DPIL resource information.
• Inconsistent processes for providing all families with DPIL resource information.

Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library provides high quality, age appropriate, free books to children up to age 5. Each enrolled child receives a specially selected book mailed directly to their homes. A child enrolled as a newborn has the potential to receive 60 books to build their own personal library.

“Without a strong foundation in reading, children are left behind at the beginning of their education. They lag in every class, year after year because more than 85 percent of the curriculum is taught by reading. And by the end of third grade, 74 percent of struggling readers won’t ever catch up. In fact, one of the most important predictors of graduating from high school is reading proficiently by the end of third grade.” - The Children’s Reading Foundation.

Numbers reflect children under the age of 5 in the Dolly Parton Imagination Library service area of the Greater Watertown Community Health Foundation per the 2022 Census 5-year estimates (for both years 2022 & 2023). The zip codes are as follows: